Resume Skills - Key Skills

An important section to include on a resume is your key skills. These are skills that are transferable between jobs. Some examples of transferable key skills are:

• Microsoft Office
• Time management
• Team work
• Communication
• Problem solving

The skills you list are going to obviously depend on the job you are going for. A warehouse worker will probably not need Microsoft Office skills for example.

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Resume Skills - Work Experience

Work experience is one of the most important parts of a resume. The most recent job you had comes at the top, and goes in descending order. If you have held many jobs, then it's not necessary to write detailed information on the job you had as a teenager.

A common format to list your work experience is:
Company Name
Position                                                                                 Year Start - Year End

• Responsibility/Achievement
• Responsibility.Achievement
• Responsibility/Achievement
• Responsibility.Achievement

You can have the time frame next to the company name, or your position. If you have been promoted within the same company it might be better to have it next to the position title, so you can split up the timeframe.

XYZ Accounting Company                                             
Intermediate Accountant                                                         2010 - Current

• Face to face client contact to complete tax returns
• Completion of BAS statements for small to medium sized companies
• Working closely with office support staff
• Increased billings by 5% from 2011/2012 to 2012/2013 financial years

Super Awesome Accounting Firm                                  

Intermediate Accountant                                                       2008 - 2010

Junior Accountant                                                                 2007 - 2008

• Supporting intermediate accountants with tax returns and BAS statements
• Lodging of tax returns to ATO
• Promoted from Junior to Intermediate Accountant within a year

Local Fish & Chip Shop

Store Assistant                                                                     2005 - 2007

• Customer service
• Cash handling

If you have done volunteer work, this may be the place to list it. If it's related to the field you are working in, you can put it in the work experience section - you don't even necessarily have to say you were a volunteer. However if you have had more than one volunteer job, and it's unrelated to your field, you may want to list it in a separate section towards the end of your resume. Volunteer work is excellent on a resume, it shows you are a team player and contribute to your community.

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Superannuation - The Basics

Superannuation is a very important tool to plan for your retirement. I understand this could 40+ years away, but when you retire you will be glad that you had planned for it - and you can enjoy your multiple yachts. And now is the time to look into it.

Superannuation is a compulsory fund that your employers must put an additional 9.25% of your wage into. If you're under 18 you must work at least 30 hours that week to be eligible, and if you're older than 18 you must earn more than $450 a month before tax.

If you've worked at somewhere like McDonald's or a supermarket during your school years it's likely that you already have a fund set up, if not there are a few links of high rated Super Funds below.

SunSuper
HostPlus
REST Industry Super
AMP Super

The Super fund that your employer may have set you up with is possibly not a high performing super fund. It's important to do some research into your fund, and whether there would be any benefit in rolling over your super into a different fund.


There are estimates that a couple will need about $700,000 to retire comfortably. A 20 year old, currently earning $40,000 with an expected raise of 3% a year will earn approximately $357,000 in superannuation until an expected retirement age of 65. When you factor in inflation, it is obvious that it is very important to begin organising an investment plan now, not in 20 years time.

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Resume Skills - Education

Education is one of, if not the most important thing you can do to kick-start your career. For this reason, if a job advertisement asks for your university or similar qualifications, it is best to have it towards the top of your resume.

If you have completed your studies, the below is an example of how to put this on your resume:

University of Melbourne                            2009-2013
Bachelor of Business
Marketing Major
Academic transcript available on request


If you have not completed your studies yet, you could display your current studies as follows:

University of Melbourne                         Expected Graduation December 2015
Bachelor of Business
Marketing Major
Academic transcript available on request

It's unnecessary to list all of your units and marks, however do mention that a transcript is available.

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Resume Skills - Personal Brand Statement

A personal branding statement is basically the 'elevator pitch' of your resume. It's a quick blurb that sits at the top and consists of 1-3 sentences where you try to sell yourself. It can be a tough part of your resume to write, and how you decide to write it is entirely up to you, but I have included a couple of basic examples to get you going:

- I'm an enthusiastic and motivated marketing graduate. I have five years experience in the industry, with complete focus on the customer experience.

- As an executive sales manager, I develop long-lasting customer relationships to increase sales and referrals.

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Resume Skills - Contact Details

At the very top of your resume you will have your contact details. This should be pretty straight forward

Name
Address
Mobile Number
Email Address

Sample:

Bill Gates
100 Main Street
Melbourne Victoria 3000
0444 111 555
billgates@gmail.com

Note, it is very important that your email address sounds professional. xoxbill_gatesxox1958@hotmail.com is not professional. 

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Resume Skills

Over the next week I will be posting a guide to writing your resume, one section at a time. Below is a general outline of what should be included on your resume, a guide to each section will be posted daily, with a culmination of the information posted on the last day with a sample resume.


Contact Details

Personal Brand Statement

Education

Work Experience

Key Skills

Referees

Complete sample resume - Coming Soon


Miscellaneous tips:

• Keep the formatting and font simple. Extravagant fonts look unprofessional and can take away from your overall message.
• Don't include a picture unless requested in the job ad
• Keep it to 1-2 pages, especially if you have just left school, in which case you most likely wouldn't have enough experience to fill up more pages.
• Keep dot points short and sharp - you have a cover letter for a reason.

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Nail Polish in the Workplace

Depending on your workplace, nail polish can a fun way to colour up a plain office outfit.

There are a few different colours appropriate in the workplace. 

Do:
Clear varnish
French manicure
Light pink to brown (depending on your skin tone)

Maybe:
Red, depending on your workplace this may be appropriate. Be sure to gauge your office to see if you think red would be appropriate. Even so, it should be cut short and fix any chips in the polish as soon as possible.

Steer clear of:
Neon polishes
Blue, orange, yellow, green etc.
Nail art. While it can be awesome, nail art is best left to weekends and annual leave.

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Define Your Strengths and Weaknesses

"What are your strengths and weaknesses?" Also known as "What are your development areas?"

This common interview question is a hard one to answer. Hopefully you have your strengths down-pat and ready to answer. 

As hard as it is to believe, saying you don't have any weaknesses or saying 'I care too much' or 'I get too invested in the job' are terrible answers. Terrible.

One strategy to answer this question is to offer a minor flaw, and then say what you are doing to correct the flaw. 

For example, if you are applying for a job in an office you could say "I have limited abilities using MYOB, however I have a book at home and I am teaching myself to be more proficient".  If you are applying for a job as a junior accountant you could say "I only have beginner skills in Microsoft Word, however I am a fast learner and I will pick up any necessary skills I don't have quickly".

Obviously these examples are unlikely to apply to yourself, but replacing the skill and the solution should prove to be a successful strategy to answer this question. Do you have any other strategies to share? Please comment below.

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A Manager Who Blames You For Their Mistakes, And Takes Credit For Your Success

A manager that blames you for their mistakes and takes credit for your success can be a common frustration for young business professionals. It's easy to become upset. How you handle this situation is very important. It's very tempting to say something to the manager when upset, but it's important to display a high level of emotional intelligence, and bite your tongue.

It's easy to become upset, and feel like they are smearing your reputation within the company, however a manager who does this to you, will have undoubtedly displayed the same behaviours to other employees, and most likely be a known issue. 

If you are in a situation where you have been blamed for a mistake, you should ask the manager how you should have done it differently. This will do one of two things, either it will calm the manager down and it will show you are trying to improve. Or the manager will try to articulate what you could have done differently, and maybe come to their own conclusion that you are not to blame.

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